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Pisco Summit

Two mountaineers navigating a glacier on a Gasherbrum II Expedition

Our team of recent Wharton grads have brought us good luck and great weather so far this year! The weather has been stunning during our past week in the mountains and it was culminated by a warm, cloudless, windless summit day on Pisco (19,200)ft. After four days of setting camps progressively higher on the peak (acclimatizing and reviewing skills), our two teams made a 2am start to go for the summit. Tom Frasier climbed with Jaime, while Amit Kapur and Vijay Mayadas shared a rope with Adrian.
Unfortunately Andrew Brown made the tough decision to descend to base camp with a flu and fever (he has been recovering quickly and is excited to lead the charge on Chopicalqui beginning tomorrow).
Both rope teams moved quickly until dawn when they hit a 150 foot, 70 degree ice wall broken by four crevasses. This was the technical crux of the route and all five climbers moved through it with style. From there it was another hour surrounded by stunning views of mountains bathed in alpenglow to the summit where all of us were able to celebrate and snap photos together.
Now we are back at base camp feasting on fresh trout (caught by Amit and Andrew from the near by lake) and preparing for Chopicalqui. We plan on leaving base camp tomorrow, and attempting the summit on or around the 22nd.

We will post a report when we return.

p.s. All of us want to wish our fathers a belated Happy Father’s Day, we are sorry we are not there to celebrate.

-Adrian B. via satellite phone